Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray met with Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Huanacuni today in the Foreign Ministry to review the bilateral relationship and various regional and multilateral issues.
Foreign Secretary Videgaray highlighted the importance of Foreign Minister Huanacuni's visit, the first in ten years by a Bolivian Foreign Minister and a sign of both countries' desire for a closer relationship and a better mutual understanding.
During the meeting with their delegations, both officials emphasized the progress made in the commitments adopted during the fifth meeting of the Binational Commission in April 2016; in the Mixed Commissions for Educational, Cultural, Sports, and Technical and Scientific Cooperation; at the fourth meeting of the Committee for Cooperation in Fighting Drug Trafficking and Drug Dependence; and the meeting for consular and migration consultations. The two parties agreed to hold the next meetings of the above in the first quarter of 2018 to give continuity to the bilateral agenda and strengthen their collaboration.
Both officials welcomed the progress made in eliminating the tourist visa requirement for Bolivian citizens. Foreign Secretary Videgaray said, "We have decided to start the technical work on quickly eliminating the tourist visa for visitors who come for up to 180 days and who are not here on business. We want more Bolivians to come to Mexico; we want reciprocal tourism to increase and eliminating the visa will be key for this to happen."
Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Huanacuni called the decision "a very important step for natural migration and for cooperation and complementarity between our peoples." He also said that the Bolivian government wants to create an era without walls, during which bridges are built to "construct a universal citizenry." He commented that, during his visit to Mexico, progress was made in expanding South-South cooperation in tourism, indigenous peoples and otehr areas.
The two officials agreed on the need to work together on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues in order to make constructive contributions to the discussions of the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
On behalf of the people and government of Mexico, Foreign Secretary Videgaray thanked Bolivia for its solidarity and for sending aid from both official sources and Bolivian civil society after the earthquakes last September.
"I want to take this opportunity to, once again, thank the people and government of Bolivia, President Evo Morales and Foreign Minister Huanacuni, for the generosity and solidarity with which the Bolivian people responded to the earthquakes we had in Mexico in September. A few days after the second earthquake, two planes arrived from the Bolivian government with 21 tons of humanitarian aid. It was an hour of great pain for the Mexican people, but also an hour of light and friendship, of feeling accompanied, feeling embraced by the world, and particularly by the people of Bolivia," said Foreign Secretary Videgaray.
Lastly, during his visit, Foreign Minister Huanacuni gave a talk at the Foreign Ministry on Bolivian foreign policy and its 'Living Well' development model.